I’m getting a decent collection of flag pictures now. The combination of the gold light before sunset and a strong breeze made this a particularly good time to shoot flags. I like the old Florida look of the Cocoa City Hall building and think it photographs well.

This week I had a chance to go out and take a few pictures during an Atlas V launch at night. Night launches are very cool to watch and incredibly difficult to photograph. I got a few decent shots and learned much more about what to do better next time, like to not forget my remote shutter release.

For this week we have a different sort of flag picture. This was a pretty long shot without a long lens with me so I had to crop it a ton to get a decent view. I may show some other crops of this in the future and I do like the setting quite a bit.

This week I have a decent sunset picture of the same flag I posted last week. I used an adjustment brush in Lightroom 4 to bring out the color in the flag by bringing up the light in it’s shadows and increasing it’s saturation. I think it turned out pretty nice.

This year I want to try something. I am going to attempt to post a picture of an American flag every week. Not just any picture either but one I personally took during that week.

Now, I know that this is going to be hard but I think this will help me do a couple of things. One, I hope it will help to share the beauty of our flag and remind people of what it stands for. Secondly though, I hope to use this project to increase my skills in photography and post processing.

This week’s picture isn’t perfect, far from it in fact, but it is the best one I got this week. I’ve scouted a bunch of other locations and when weather and work cooperate, I should be able to get some nice ones in the coming weeks. So hopefully you will enjoy this project with me next week as we see what I come up with.

Today I did something that brought back memories. Not of something I’ve done exactly, more of someone I used to be. While we were experiencing squalls from Hurricane Sandy, instead of hunkering down and staying warm and dry, I got in my truck and drove to the beach.

Crossing the causeway during a squall is what triggered the thoughts. Instead of turning around, I drove toward risk. I wouldn’t exactly call it danger, but it was close. When I got to the beach I walked right out there onto the sand to see the waves for myself. I’m not silly enough to get in on a day like this, maybe too old for that, but I still wanted to see it myself.

After snapping a couple pictures and heading back to my truck I saw a couple guys putting on wetsuits and asked if they were going to actually get in. After we talked for a few minutes they learned I was an army vet and I learned they were active duty soldiers. I took a few pictures of them in the waves and looking at them afterwards, they reminded me very much of myself and my fellow soldiers twenty years ago. Maybe a little more brave than smart, but we wouldn’t let anything named Sandy get between us and a nice day at the beach.

The other day my wife brought home a couple of nice thick cut filets. Let me just say that they were not cheap. After a bit of online research I decided to wrap them in bacon before grilling. Besides, what isn’t better with bacon? Other than the bacon all I added was some sea salt and garlic pepper to each side.

So I got the grill nice and hot and seared them a minute each side to start. I then moved them to a slightly cooler section for about three more minutes each side. That’s it.

I was a tad concerned that they wouldn’t be cooked well enough. I couldn’t have been more wrong! They were nice and red inside but not bloody. Perfect!